Wasteland Past
by Sufferingzombie
Summary: Naruto/Fallout3. Naruto is being beaten on and Kyuubi decides that enough is enough. The demon sends Naruto to a time before the villages...when the world was a very different place and supermutants were the norm. Summary sucks. Just read it
1. Chapter 1

Don't own anything you recognize.

Pairings later…much later.

Chapter One: The Demon Makes a Decision

The say had started out well for little Uzumaki Naruto, resident of Konohagakure no Sato no Hi no Kuni. The now eight year old child had been visited by the Hokage, as he always was on his birthday, and had then barricaded himself into his tiny apartment, then into his apartment closet under camouflage cloth. He could hear the sounds of the merry-makers as they enjoyed the festival commemorating the defeat of the dread demon Kyuubi eight years prior. See, everyone in the village hated Naruto with a passion, though he only thought it was because he was born on the day of the Kyuubi's attack, and in a way he was correct. However, the complete truth of the matter was an S-ranked secret of Konoha, the penalty for discussing it or letting one of the uninitiated in on the secret was death. So every year Naruto huddled in his tiny closet (he had done so even at the orphanage before they had kicked him out three years before) and listen to the families enjoying themselves in merriment and cringe at the pounding on his door; at the drunken yelling, calling for the 'demon' to come out and play. This year however there were no ANBU watching him as there had been when he was in the orphanage; the council had taken them off duty claiming that the Hokage had requested it, since Naruto now had his own home. Also, because he was no longer on the street, there was little chance of the nins loyal to the Hokage coming across him. To make matters even worse, the villagers pounding away drunkenly at his door were not civilians, they were low-level nins, genin and chuunin, and the small boy knew in his heart that there was nothing that he could do to stop them from hurting, and perhaps killing him this time. When they finally did break through the door and into his apartment, then into his closet to haul him out by his throat all he wanted was to join his parents, whom the Old Man had told him died during the Kyuubi attack.

BREAK

Within the seal, caged behind golden bars in the sewer that made up the child's dismal landscape was the greatest demon to walk the Earth: the Kyuubi no Kitsune. The giant fox had never really had a beef with humans; never really even noticed them, to be honest. His 'attack' on Konoha had been a misunderstanding involving his heat cycle and an annoyance and…was really too embarrassing for the fox to think about any longer, so he struck it from his mind and began to pay closer attention to his vessel.

The kit was being beaten. Again.

This seemed to be a regular occurrence and the mighty demon was to the point of exasperation with the people of this village. To think that the tiny kit was actually him…it was ludicrous! Didn't these people have any faith in the Shinigami? There was no way that the God of Death himself would botch a seal such as the one that sealed the Kyuubi's cage. That the kit still had the willpower left in him to maintain the seal, despite the cruelty of the humans around him, frankly astonished the demon and made him strangely proud of his kit.

His kit, yes; that is what Naruto was now. The Kyuubi's kit.

Kyuubi would be damned to the deepest reaches of hell before he let his kit be hurt by these cretins anymore.

The giant fox began to gather his chakra around him, his voice starting low and gaining volume as he chanted in a language long since dead. The ritual he intoned, to take the child back, to a place that was desolate and dangerous, but a time where he vaguely remembered meeting a young woman and her child.

A child with vibrant blue eyes, unbelievably sunny hair and a small three tailed fox on his shoulder.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two: Post-Apocalyptia and Meeting the Savior

Cassandra was not having a good day at all.

Granted, every day was a shitty day in the Capital Wasteland, but still, that day turned out to be an exception to the rule. Just one thing after another, after another, starting with a run in with an unusually large band of raiders, followed by a run in with some slavers. As if that hadn't been bad enough she had then run into some feral ghouls and a trio of radscorpions. She had been trying to get from Girdershade back to her apartment in Megaton so that she could drop some of the stuff she had picked up off. Instead she had wound up wasting more ammunition than she knew she had to spare on stupid people and pain in the ass giant insects. Cassandra's strides were purposeful as she walked through the scrap gates of Megaton and straight for the Craterside Supply, she had things to sell to Moira…and an answer to the woman's question regarding research.

CRATERSIDE SUPPLY

Moira was behind the counter of her shop when Cassandra walked in.

"Well hello Miss 101, how are you this lovely day?"

"I've…been better Moira. Listen, I've got some stuff to sell, if you're interested."

"Of course! Let me see what you've got."

Cassandra wound up selling Moira some mentats, a few bits of raider armor and three pistols, all in working order and good repair. The ex-vault dweller then turned her attention to Moira's question on research.

"Hey…you still need someone to research your book?"

A warm feeling swamped Cassandra at the bright smile she received. It was difficult to do anything nice for the people in the vault because most, if not all, of their needs were met by the Overseer and his ilk. Being out in the Wasteland brought opportunities to help people that Cassandra would never have had if she had simply stayed in the vault and been married off to that damn fool Marcus. Moira went on to explain what she wanted for the first chapter of her book; of which there would be three parts. Part one would be for Cassandra to find safe places to find food, seemed simple enough, but she had already discovered that most of the places to find food had raiders nesting within. The second part was for Cassandra to come down with radiation poisoning so that Moira could figure out how to fix her. While this was probably the easiest one to accomplish, considering the seriously irradiated water that the bomb Megaton was named for was less than two hundred feet away, this was probably the one that Cassandra wanted to do the least. The third part would consist of going to some minefield somewhere to the North West and researching mines which, again, would suck. After hemming and hawing for a few minutes Cassandra eventually agreed to do the research for Moira's guide and, after a bright and shiny farewell from the seemingly imperturbable brunette, left Craterside Supply and headed up toward her apartment where she planned to fall into her piece of shit bed and fall asleep.

*(*(*(

The apartment was perfect as far as Cassandra was concerned. It had two stories, on the first were the kitchen and her supply lockers and on the second were her bedroom and, most importantly, her bed. However, the most important thing to Cassandra was that it was safe and about as secure as one could be in the Capital Wasteland. What she expected when she walked in was to get to the lockers and dump some of the crap she had picked up, the scrap metal, nuka-cola and some of her cartons of cigarettes at the very least, and then get to her bed to sleep until the next day. What she did not expect was to find a small child, beaten and unconscious, lying on her floor with a small fox (that actually looked _normal_, as in _not_ irradiated) curled up beside him, a pile of scrolls and books beside them both. Cassandra pulled her shotgun from its place on her back and held it loosely as she walked slowly toward the child and fox, wary, but not overly concerned. The child was filthy, emaciated and covered in blood and bruises and Cassandra couldn't help but feel sorry for the little kid. He looked to be about six, but the Wanderer knew that because of his starved state that he could be anywhere from seven to ten and look the same. Finally, there was nothing left but to wake the kid, if she could, and find out what the hell he was doing in her home.

"Kid. Hey kid! Wake up!"

The kid didn't wake, but she wasn't surprised that the fox did. She was surprised at the fox's form and reaction when it did wake; it didn't attack her or the boy as she thought it would. The fox stood, stretched and then nudged at the child, whimpering slightly. It was then that Cassandra noticed that the fox had three tails instead of one.

_Perhaps it _is _irradiated_.

When the boy still didn't wake the fox looked up at the Wanderer with large, wet eyes and the woman who could kill a band of raiders without flinching…caved.

"Oh alright."

* * *

I still own nothing, but I could use ya'lls help. I need to know which quests you would like to see; though I think I'm going to start with Arefu. I'm going to spread out the quests to cover years instead of weeks or months so that Naruto is going back to Konoha before Waters of Life. I also need to know if you want Cassandra to eventually end up in Konoha or not.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three: Talking Foxes Explaining, a.k.a. 'Why Does this Shit Always Happen to Me?'

The child was in terrible shape, which Cassandra could attest to. She had gone to get Moira after realizing that, while the boy had no broken bones, his body was covered in cuts and bruises that the Wanderer did not know if she could deal with. Some had required stitches, others just needed to be bandaged, but the boy had needed a slew of stimpaks and blood packs to get him back into working order. He was no longer unconscious, but asleep and Cassandra had decided to join him, making a bed from some old clothing beside the bed where she had laid the child.

Kyuubi had watched the woman as she cared for his kit and knew without any doubts that this woman was precisely who he had been searching for. The memory had been vague; nothing more than a shadow from ages past, but the feel of her aura, the spirit she exuded, had remained in his mind like a beacon that had led him to her. Time travel was a bitch to manage because of the paradox, or rather lack of paradox that was possible. Kyuubi knew that he had been sealed, but he also knew that he had met his jailor before…back before the Gods had gotten involved in the world and rearranged everything to start anew. He had been…something else (he wasn't quite sure what) when he had met the Lone Wanderer and her Son with his small, three-tailed fox kit, but he did remember their kindness to him; so when his vessel was being beaten (again) and he suddenly remembered not only the jutsu for time travel, but the Wanderer as well…he took it as a sign. He didn't notice when the woman woke, nor did he notice her eyes on him as he thought.

"So…who's the kid?"

The fox's head whipped around so fast that Cassandra thought he would get whiplash…if animals could get whiplash. She wasn't sure how she knew the fox could understand her, all she knew was that he could and that he may even be able to talk to her. When the fox continued to stare she rolled her eyes.

"Your eyes are too intelligent…nothing like a true animal's. I figure you're some kind of experiment and so is the kid, but it still doesn't tell me how you both got into my apartment."

Kyuubi inwardly debated the merits of telling this woman everything, but ultimately wound up shrugging and jumping lightly off of his sleeping place, otherwise known as Naruto's chest, and walking to the woman sitting lotus-style on the floor. The fox sat in front of the woman, a grin on his face.

"I am called Kyuubi and the kit in Uzumaki Naruto. As to how we got in here…that was my fault I'm afraid."

Kyuubi the proceeded to tell the Wanderer about the world that would be in centuries to come and the Wanderer listened carefully. There would be trees, actual trees rather than the stubby burned husks they had now. Water would be pure. The Wanderer could not wrap her mind around a place where radiation sickness was unheard of. Then Kyuubi told her about Konoha and ninja, chakra and jutsu and, finally, about Naruto's treatment at the hands of the villagers he had saved with his very birth.

"So let me see if I've got this straight. You're a demon lord who attacked the city where Naruto had just been born. Then a man on a _giant toad_ did a _jutsu_ that called the _Death God_, who proceeded to _seal_ you into Naruto's gut. Do I have that right?"

The fox nodded and Cassandra closed her eyes.

_ Okay…,this is the most ridiculous thing I have heard in my life. Gods? Ninja? Holy fucking shit I… this can't be real. However, the information I have been given is from a three-tailed fox who _told_ me everything. Fuck! Why does this shit always happen to me?!_

The sounds of a child waking rocked Cassandra from her musings and her attention zeroed in on the small blond as his eyes opened and took Cassandra's breath.

Those eyes were like the sky…what she had heard the sky was before the war.

That was the moment that Cassandra, daughter of James and former resident of Vault 101 acquired a son.

Author's Note: Still don't own it.

I need help! Tell me what quests you want to see. Also, I will do the expansions, but my brother has only played Point Lookout and is playing Broken Steel. He hasn't gotten to The Pitt or Operation Anchorage either, so it may take a while for me to include those.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four: Leaving Megaton and Flashbacks

A few weeks later found Cassandra and Naruto, with Kyuubi on his shoulder, walking out of Megaton City fully stocked, locked and loaded and ready for trouble. Cassandra had argued with both Naruto and Kyuubi about the child joining her in the Wastes, but their point about their world was well received. It really _could_ help Naruto when he went to become a ninja, because he would go back, to have combat experience and the two really were probably safer with Cassandra than out on their own. Naruto was a great debater for an eight year old.

This brings us back to the two humans and one fox walking out of Megaton with more firepower than Cassandra had ever been able to carry on her own. See, Kyuubi had brought the scrolls that Naruto had been hiding in his apartment with them when he had brought the two to the Capital Wasteland and those scrolls would prove to be invaluable to the Wanderers. One of those scrolls was a sealing scroll, which would allow Cassandra to carry her Fat Boy without worrying about the damn thing weighing her down. The formerly Lone Wanderer wore the armor that she had taken off those Talon Company assholes, as did Naruto, though Cassandra had been forced to take the armor to Moira for adjustments. The proprietor had not agreed with Cass's decision to take the child with her into the Wastelands, but Cass's decision was final and Moira had left it at that. Cass pointed, her voice a quiet trill.

"We're heading for the downtown DC area, so follow me, but keep close. There really is no telling what we're going to encounter on the way."

Naruto and Kyuubi both nodded silently and the three were off toward Arefu on their way to DC, carrying a message from one of Megaton's many settlers.

Naruto had gotten to know a lot about his new guardian over the weeks that they had remained holed up in her apartment. He had been horrified the week that she had forced herself to become ill to help that Moira woman by drinking the water around the crater in the center of town, which had led to a discussion about radiation and the dangers of rads. Cass had discovered that lack of exposure to rads made it difficult for Naruto's system to accept irradiated food, so the weeks were spent not only getting to know one another, but also acclimating Naruto's body to the food and drink in the world. Naruto and Cass both had learned the basics of chakra use and had discovered, much to the surprise of Kyuubi, that Cass had a significant amount of chakra. The demon supposed that it was because of the high level of ambient radiation in the area and figured that all the humans around would have higher levels than the humans back home. The two humans had learned from the demon until Cass had decided that they were prepared enough to venture forth; they could learn more on the road.

_FLASHBACK_

_Naruto woke to unfamiliar surroundings, dilapidated walls made of corrugated steel and wood covered in graffiti and a bed that was slightly more comfortable than the one in his apartment. He took the time to look around just a little, fearful of whoever lived here since he did not recognize the place as anywhere that Hokage-jiji would have brought him. _

_ "Hey kid, you awake now?"_

_Naruto's head snapped to the side so fast that Cass wondered if the child hadn't injured himself. _

_ "Wh-who are you? Where am I?"_

_Cass saw the fear in his eyes and cautiously sat near the bed, using the pile of clothing that she had slept on as a chair since the chair in the corner was on the verge of collapse. _

_ "My name is Cassandra and you are in my apartment in Megaton. I've been speaking with the one who brought you here and I understand that you are not from this time; in fact he brought you both into the far past. Before I explain any further I need to know if you are all right?"_

_The child, unused to having any one really concerned for him, simply nodded as he tried to wrap his head around the fact that this woman really wanted to care for him. Not to mention the fact that he was apparently in the past._

END FLASHBACK

That had been the beginning of their relationship as family and after Naruto had met Kyuubi and understood why the fox had attacked the village the child had offered to let the fox join their little family. Naruto had been introduced to Moira, but Cass had kept him rather isolated as she allowed him to get accustomed to the food and drink in her time. The background radiation being what it was Naruto and Kyuubi both had gotten ill at first from just breathing, only to have it worsened by eating and drinking. It took them over a week to become acclimated and during that time Cassandra had taught Naruto everything she could about the weapons and environment of the time. She had described the radscorpions and yao-guai, the numerous robots and other creatures that they would face and the child and fox soaked up everything like a pair of sponges. Naruto had, for some strange reason, fallen in love with the Chinese pistol that she had (piece of shit that it was) and Kyuu found the flamethrower amusing, to say the least, but the two of them adapted quickly. The most stressful time was when Naruto met Wadsworth on his second day conscious. Cass had not let him out of his bed the day he woke, but could not keep him there the second, so the child had come down the stairs. Cass had struggled not to laugh as the boy's eyes widened until they could widen no more. His mouth dropped open and it was a second before he launched himself down the stairs and behind Cass, who had lost her battle against hilarity and was bent in half, trying to breathe and failing. Naruto had not appreciated the hilarity, particularly when Kyuubi joined in on the laughter, but everything was sorted out and the new family began to plan for what they would do in the near future.

*End*

Note: I know that it sucks, but I wanted to get this out of the way before I moved on to the quests and such. They start with Arefu in the next chapter, then I think I'll do the Those! Quest and then Paradise Falls and Oasis with some Wasteland Survival Guide mixed in for good measure. I am doing Operation: Anchorage for sure, just not sure when and I will also do the Pitt and Point Lookout, but those will be after Naruto goes home. Still need quests requests though, so keep 'em coming!


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five: Raiders and VATS

Their first run-in with raiders showed Naruto the kind of world that he was now in, Kyuubi how protective Cass was and Cass how much she would do to keep her son (as she thought of him privately) safe. The raiders had barely registered on Cass's Pipboy before they were on them, four women and a man, all in improvised armor, all armed with melee weapons except for the man, who had a Chinese assault rifle that was truly a piece of shit. She felt the bullets pound into her chest plate, but they weren't enough to even knock her back and she returned fire with the combat shotgun she had also stolen off the Talon Company assholes. Two shots and the gun was out of the equation, but one of the women had managed to get around her to Naruto and held him up by his throat, the world slowing to a crawl as Cass watched the knife the woman held arced toward her son. In her fear and outrage at the attack on her son she had unconsciously activated the VATS program on her Pipboy. VATS was a program that would quicken her reaction time and reflexes while allowing her to target specific points to make her shots more accurate and kills cleaner. The world sped up and Cass found herself taking the knife in the shoulder, the shotgun coming up almost of its own volition to rest under the woman's jaw, the trigger tightening, tightening; the gun going off and spreading the woman's brains and skull to all and sundry. Cass spun and slammed the butt of the shotgun into the second woman's nose before unloading into her torso, turning to the last raider as she reloaded the shotgun. The last woman had taken to running, but Cass wasn't having any of it and quickly switched from the shotgun to the sniper rifle that she had found in Megaton. A shot to the back of the head and it was finished and time continued as normal. Cass was breathing hard, as if she had just run from a group of radscorpions, her eyes focused on Naruto as she scanned him for any damage, having forgotten about the knife residing in her shoulder.

"Naruto, are you alright?"

The boy nodded, his eyes focused on the knife in her shoulder as his mind went around and around.

_No one is supposed…to get hurt because of me. I'm the one who should be hurt, not kaa-san. Not kaa-san-_

"Naruto? NARUTO!"

The boy snapped out of his reverie when Cassandra brought her hands to his shoulders and squeezed.

"You alright kiddo?"

The boy looked deep into Cass's eyes and saw concern and nodded, letting go of the negative thoughts that had begun to take hold.

*(*(*(*

Arefu was an odd little settlement situated on one of the capital's remaining overpasses and made up of huts made of the same materials as Cassandra's apartment. The pair of Wanderers were met by the sheriff, a man named Evan King who was definitely never going to make the list of their favorite people. Cass pretty much ignored the man as she searched for Lucy's family so that she could drop off the message that she and Naruto had been trusted with as they left Megaton, but they found that all the doors to all the hovels in town were locked tight and not even Cass's growing lockpicking skills could break them.

"Naruto, go back to the sheriff and tell him that the whole town seems to have locked themselves down, I'm going to check the last house."

The boy nodded and took off toward Evans while Cass turned to the last door in town; to her surprise, it was unlocked.

The sight would stay with her for a long, long time and made her infinitely glad that she had sent Naruto away.

The couple in the house was long dead, the smell forcing Cass to cover her nose and breathe through her mouth even though she despised the taste that it left on her tongue. Their throats had been torn out, though the marks were not made by a dog or any other creature that she recognized. She did a quick sweep of the house for anything useful and, not finding anything, left the single room house and closed the door tightly behind her.

Naruto walked toward the sheriff, though he doubted that the man actually held any such position, making sure to maintain silent footfalls so that the man would not hear him. The ninja-in-training/Wasteland Wanderer had learned that silence was his friend in this world where enemies didn't wait for you to find them before trying to kill and rob you. Living in Konoha had spoiled the boy, even though he had been horribly abused by the villagers, because he had always had access to clean water; just go to the river. He had always been able to find a relatively safe place to sleep and he had always been able to eat food that wasn't poisonous, even if he had to hunt it down himself. Here in the Capital Wasteland _everything_ was poisonous and the only clean water to be found came in bottles that you had only if your luck leaned extraordinarily toward the good side of the coin. Kyuubi, whom they had started calling Keenan, was perched on his shoulder and looking around excitedly at all the new, if destroyed, things around them.

Evan was indifferent to the fact that he seemed to be the only living thing in Arefu, but he did give Naruto some interesting information.

"That damn group of bastards has everyone scared enough that they don't come out of their homes anymore."

"What group?"

"Some group calls themselves 'The Family'. The Family of Psychos more like. They been attacking people for months now; came up here not too long ago and attacked old missus Hart and dragged her off like some bunch of Deathclaws or summat."

"Do you know where this…'Family' lives?"

"Rumor says they live down at the train yard, east of here."

"Thanks a lot King."

The Wanderers turned to leave when Evan spoke up again.

"You know, since you're heading that way there's been rumors of bad things happening in Big Town.; might want to check in there on your way to the train yard."

Cass waved at him as they continued on, having already decided that they would make a short stop in the town before moving on to the train yard.

It was only after they were well away from Arefu that Cass remembered that Lucy had said she had a brother.

There were only two bodies in the house…where was the brother?

*(*(*(*(*

That question was answered soon enough.

"Ok, Naruto, you and Keenan go ahead towards Germantown. _Do not act until I get there._ Just watch the place and note what you find _without_ being seen."

The boy and the fox nodded in tandem, which looked a bit strange, but Cass was becoming accustomed to it. She watched as Naruto hurried away to the north, splitting off from her own route, which would continue east. He waved once just before he vanished from sight over a hill and Cass sighed at having to send him off on his own, but knew that time was of the essence with Big Town's problem. Supermutants were nothing to fool around with and they did not know what they were doing with the people they were taking as captives, so the best thing to do was to have him watch them while she took care of locating Ian West, Lucy's brother.

She lamented her decision, but not for long as she wanted to join her son as soon as possible, so she took off at a brisk jog to reach the train yard within the next few hours.

*(*(*(*(*

Note: I know, not long enough. However, at least I've separated them for now and next chapter will be Naruto's adventures in dealing with Supermutants. The following chapter will be the Family with Cass.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six: Germantown

Keenan ran beside Naruto as the two made their ways north from where they had split off from Cass for the first time since they had come to the past. Neither spoke, nor slowed down throughout the run, even though they thought Germantown was probably a fair distance from their location; they just kept running. The armor that his mother had chosen for him was rather simple in that it was her armored vault 101 jumpsuit, cut down to fit his diminutive body. Many of the pieces of fabric and armor had also been taken and sized to fit Keenan. His current armory consisted of the weapons that his mother Cass didn't have a lot of skill in, those being a good amount of her collection of small arms. Naruto had wound up with her 10mm pistol, the scoped .44 Magnum, the 10mm submachine gun and the .32 pistol from her collection. They were the weapons that she had little to no skill at and, they had discovered that Naruto was quite good at all of them when he first started practicing with them. He also had a pip-boy that Cass had found and had Mora fix for him and, though it did not have the VATS option to it, it was the best thing that Naruto had since it was connected to Cass's. Cass had figured that the VATS system would not be good for Naruto anyway since he had Keenan in his head and did not really need the added stress of the altering VATS on top of that.

VATS worked through a combination of micro-drugs pumped directly to the brain to bring it to hyper speed for short bursts and a muscle enhancer that worked almost instantaneously in order to get the 'slow-down' effect that made the system so damn useful. However, the drawbacks included monstrous headaches and fatigue, not to mention the possible bad effects if VATS was activated while the operator was using Buff Out or Psycho at the time of activation. If that were the case then it was entirely possible for the combination of drugs to cause serious, irreparable damage to the brain and/ or to the muscles. All in all, not a good idea.

Of course Cass had done it, but only once and never again. The migraine had not been worth it.

The trek to Germantown was as long as they expected it to be, but all the running he did in Konoha to get away from the mobs and the ANBU after his pranks helped a lot and he and Keenan just kept right on running until his Pip Boy indicated that there were creatures nearby. The Pip Boy couldn't tell him if they were friend or foe or even if what species they were, but it was great at indicating that there was something living in the area. Naruto and Keenan slowed to an easy walk, knowing that there was no cover to be had, so the only choice they had was to walk calmly and try not to alert anything to the presence, but he didn't count on what he found.

There was plenty of cover because Germantown was little more than a graveyard of steel and concrete. What were once buildings, probably quite lovely buildings, were now nothing but rubble, creating the tombstones of the age. The only place that there was obvious activity was a single building near the center of town surrounded by fencing and barbed wire that Naruto assumed was the police station.

"C'mon Keenan, let's go see what's going on there."

The fox nodded and leapt to Naruto's shoulder as the aspiring ninja and Wasteland Wanderer sidled slowly up the side of one of the tombstones and crouched on its top in the shadow cast by another. Naruto had taken to wall walking like a duck to swimming and had quite enjoyed scaring his mother when she would return from supply runs. Now it was a skill that he had the feeling would keep him alive throughout this mission.

He had no idea how right he was.

*(*(*(*(*

Naruto had been watching the police station for a few hours with growing trepidation and dread. The police station was literally crawling with Super Mutants, large, hulking green monsters whose origins Naruto was not eager to discover. They were mildly intelligent and a bitch to kill according to his mother, but Naruto had the distinct feeling that he would have no choice but to find out himself. The reason for this assurance was simple: they were going to be moving the victims that they had taken from Big Town very soon, where to Naruto didn't know, but he knew that they would move them before his mother would have a chance to complete her mission and get over to the town. That meant that if Naruto wanted the quest given to them done successfully that he would be the one to go in and get the victims.

"Kit, this is not a good idea."

"But Keenan, mom won't get here in time to help and these people are going to get moved and probably killed!"

"Cass told us not to move on our own! Do you have any idea how angry she will be if we do this?"

Naruto considered that for a few minutes as he watched the comings and goings of the Super Mutants, but it was not long at all before he made the decision that Keenan later admitted was the obvious choice.

"I know Keen, but we have to. They need our help and I don't think we're going to get a better opportunity than now."

The fox nodded, resigned to the fact that Cass was going to kill them and followed silently as Naruto made his way toward the police station without making a single sound to alert anyone that he was there.

*(*(*(*

Getting into the police station was much simpler than either Naruto or Keenan thought that it was going to be. They had easily bypassed the guards, but Keenan had to remind Naruto that they would have to come back out and therefore should definitely kill as many of the Super Mutants as they could on the way in while they didn't have people with them who probably didn't know which end of the gun was dangerous, which was the vibe that Naruto had gotten when he and Cass had talked to the folks of Big Town. Naruto decided that they would start by going upstairs, starting on the second floor and working their way down through the first floor, then the basement, where they assumed the cells were. As Naruto slowly made his way around a corner, having snuck in one of the windows on the second story, he was surprised as he very nearly ran into a Super Mutant Master carrying a minigun.

"Shit!"

Everything slowed for the young Wanderer. 'Ruto dropped into a crouch and lunged for the wall as he saw the barrels of the gun begin to spin. As it began rattling his palms hit the wall and he scrambled up just as the bullets began to fly. He wound up scrambling up the wall, across the ceiling and then down the opposite wall, the mini-gun's bullets following him in his arc, before he hit the floor again and lunged between the Super Mutant's legs, pulling his 10mm submachine gun from his pack at the same time as his lunge. He emptied the clip into the mutant, ejected the empty, reloaded and emptied another as he slid to a stop behind the creature as it finally fell to the massive amount of damage that he had managed to inflict. The heavy thud of the mutant's body was only overshadowed by the child's panting as he tried to catch his breath.

_"I told you this was a bad idea."_

(*(*(*(*(*(*

'Ruto and Keenan went through the second story of the police building slowly, dodging a frag mine in the room he entered as well as one in the nearby office as he grabbed the shotgun that one of the mutants had rigged up as a trap. He wasn't very skilled with the combat shotgun, but he was good enough to not shoot himself. Down the hallway and in the next room on the left he found a holotape with the password for a computer terminal somewhere in the building, which while not helpful at the moment would be good to have just in case he needed it. Cass had pounded the "worst case scenario" into his head and he had gotten the message: collect _everything_, no matter how useless he thought it would be. The safe was easy enough to open as they had discovered that picking locks was really easy when you inserted chakra into them, which granted him nearly fifty caps. Moving on he found a medical journal, which he knew his mother would love, and two first aid kits containing a number of stimpaks and Med-X, both extremely useful even with the accelerated healing he received from Keenan.

There was nothing more of interest on the second floor, he had double checked just to make sure, so he and Keenan moved on to the ground floor, taking the stairs slowly and silently since Super Mutants were not quiet. There were no creatures in the immediate hallway, but 'Ruto could hear them in a nearby room and thus motioned for Keenan to take care of it. The fox nodded before growing to the size of a full grown Inuzuka partner, sprouting an additional two tails, and making his way down the hall toward his prey while 'Ruto headed for the other room he could see.

There in the kitchen-turned-cell was a woman, Red he presumed as she matched the description of the kidnapped doctor that he had been given.

"Hello there."

"Are you here to get me out?"

"Yup. Just hold on a sec."

"Are you going to save Shorty?"

'Ruto looked up at the woman and nodded.

"You know where he is being kept?"

"Yeah, downstairs in the basement."

(I have no idea how this dialogue actually went, so even if this sucks, it's all you're getting).

NOTE: I'm not dead, honest! I've just been having issues finding out about the game and the layout of certain places. However, I just got the Official Game Guide for the Game of the Year Edition that covers not only Fallout 3, but all the expansion packs as well. These chapters should come a little faster now that I have it.


End file.
